Capstone, Competition Winners, and Outings

One of the key tenets that the MHCI+D program reinforces cohort after the cohort is the need for each student to develop a “swiss army knife” of knowledge and skills; to prepare themselves to do more than simply what a UX related job description may entail. Recent graduate, Tara Singson innately personifies this range with a deeply personal touch, which motivates her professional drive.

Hailing from the Philippines, Tara received her undergraduate degree in industrial design naturally putting her on a course for long career of parks design for Disney in Manila…and they lived happily ever after…for six months. “I had the itch to do something more and I found that in the world of advertising and brand management,” explains Tara. Shifting to brand promotion, she worked for a digital ad agency building marketing websites and mobile apps for household names such as Lexus and Insular Life.

“This gave me a much better understanding of what product design was and it also opened up my eyes to the glaring deficiencies of tech in the Philippines being about ten years behind fully developed countries.”

This realization as well as a series of personal health scares prompted Tara to dive all in on UX design. Tara poignantly reflected, “My Mom is a breast cancer survivor and then right during the early days of the pandemic (April 2020), I was rushed to the hospital with endometriosis. Being not allowed any visitors and taking on this serious condition alone was very isolating, yet pivotal to me setting my sights on wanting to do more to improve the healthcare industry.” 

Seeking to enhance her knowledge and new found passion, Tara courageously set forth to the United States for the MHCI+D program. “When I was working in the brand design studio for two years, I wasn’t really involved in the research. MHCI+D gave me the tools to do proper research,” Tara reflects when discussing her favorite aspect of the program, “It helped inform my design decisions better as an end to end UX designer.”

When asked what her superpower as a designer is, Tara is quick to reinforce the “wearer of many hats” mantra. She said, “Yes, visual design is my bread and butter, yet with my branding and ad experience, I can take full command of many facets of what a company needs today.”

Since graduating in August 2023, Tara worked for two exciting startups: Foundation Design and Panyan. She explains, “I split my time each week between my work at Foundation Design, where I worked with Series A startups on design and branding for them to prepare them to pitch to investors. This work really reinforced my range. Panyon, a true passion project where we are developing a mobile app designed to assist young professionals in managing their stress and fostering a healthier relationship with it. As part of a close-knit team, I have worn multiple hats to meet deadlines: handling both R&D and occasionally creative direction.”

After a year of juggling multiple projects and some soul searching, Tara is excited to begin her next career adventure as a Senior User Experience Designer at Walmart Global Tech! On top of valiantly moving once again, she will be focused on designing products that enhance safety and make a positive impact in and outside of Walmart.

With such an incredible start to a promising career, Tara approaches design with a soft skill of having all the positivity in the world. “I have a very sunny disposition and a lot of grit, and I am going to do anything in my power to get the project over the finish line.”

Capstone, Competition Winners, and Outings

Spring quarter was packed with capstone research, electives, industry visits, and the beginning of sunny Seattle days. Inside the studio, students were hard at work planning and conducting research for their capstone projects. Taught by John Zoshak and Kristin Dew, this course prepared students to officially begin working on their final capstone projects. Capstone topics range from voice security in phone calls, the lobby agent experience at United Airlines, preventing burnout amongst working mothers in tech, and more. At the end of the quarter, after numerous hours spent interviewing, observing, and synthesizing research data, students presented their findings to their respective sponsors and prepared to move onto the design phase of the project.  

Two popular electives this spring were Designing Information Experiences (DIE) and Portfolio. In DIE, taught by incoming MHCI+D co-chair Jacob Wobbrock, students explored what it means to truly design for experience. Starting with learning about the philosophy of experience itself, they explored user experience, service design, customer experience, customer journey mapping, information experience, and the business of experience. The course concluded with a 5-week group project where students designed end-to-end experiences from scratch. MHCI+D projects included reimagining tipping practices, maintaining long-distance friendships, creating a stress-free way of trying on clothes in person, and reserving courts and equipment at the University of Washington’s student gym. 

In the Portfolio elective, industry professional Clint Rule guided students in creating their design portfolios, an essential element for job recruitment. Students presented their portfolios and received feedback from other industry professionals, which was invaluable for their future career prospects. 

In addition to their coursework, several MHCI+D students participated in a design hackathon, “Protothon”, sponsored by UW’s DubTech organization. Teams could select one of four prompts to design for. MHCI+D students Jamie Fong, Kelly Zhong, Tiffany Streitenberger, and Uma Anupindi won special mention for their submission for the prompt “Make the Seattle Fire Department Go Digital.” In a short 30-hour timeframe, they created LiveWire, a multi-platform system that connects firefighters and unit drivers, fire station dispatchers, and 911 callers. You can view their final design and presentation here. 

Outside the studio, students had the chance to visit Valve Corporation, the video game developer known for hits like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Dota 2, as well as the creation of Steam. The visit included a tour of Valve’s Bellevue office, discussions with two senior designers, and insights into the gaming industry and its intersection with human-computer interaction and design. 
Students also attended an Uber Design Night at the Uber office in downtown Seattle. This networking event featured talks from researchers and designers at Google Maps and Uber, discussions regarding the research behind the Uber home screen redesign and opportunities to connect with industry professionals. 

Amid the classwork and events, the cohort took a well-deserved break with a picnic at Greenlake. It was a great chance to relax, enjoy the nice weather, and hang out with classmates outside the studio. The picnic was filled with laughter, snacks, scenic views, and plenty of Cornhole.